ArchiMate®

About ArchiMate

ArchiMate®, an Open Group Standard, is an open and independent modelling language for enterprise architecture that is supported by different tool vendors and consulting firms. ArchiMate provides instruments to enable enterprise architects to describe, analyze and visualize the relationships among business domains in an unambiguous way.

Just as an architectural drawing in classical building architecture describes the various aspects of the construction and use of a building, ArchiMate offers a common language for describing the construction and operation of business processes, organizational structures, information flows, IT systems, and technical infrastructure. This insight helps stakeholders to design, assess, and communicate the consequences of decisions and changes within and between these business domains.

The ArchiMate 2.1 Specification

The ArchiMate 2.1 Specification is a maintenance update to ArchiMate 2.0, addressing comments raised since the introduction of ArchiMate 2.0 in 2012. The ArchiMate Specification is based on many years of practical experience of modeling and analysis of Enterprise Architecture (EA) by a world-wide user base. It enables the creation of fully integrated models of the organization’s enterprise architecture, the motivation for it, and the programs, projects and migration paths to implement it.

The ArchiMate modeling language has evolved to be fully aligned with the TOGAF® standard:

By providing a vendor-independent set of concepts, that helps to create a consistent, integrated model “below the waterline”, which can be depicted in the form of TOGAF views

The ArchiMate® language enables modeling throughout the TOGAF® Architecture Development Method

The language structure of the ArchiMate Core corresponds with the three main architectures as addressed in phases B, C & D in the TOGAF® ADM

The extensions to the Core closely correspond with the main aspects to be addressed in the Preliminary phase, Phase A and the Central Requirements management repository, as well as Phases E, F, G and H

The Open Group ArchiMate Forum

Joining the ArchiMate Forum enables you to actively support the use, dissemination, and further development of the ArchiMate specification. The ArchiMate Forum is open to all Open Group member organizations that apply enterprise architecture in practice, or support its use and development. More about the ArchiMate Forum.

Get involved

The Open Group Forums and Work Groups provide members with a vendor-neutral environment where they collaborate with a world-class network of peers, and have early access to information that enables them to lead the development of standards, certifications and best practices. To represent the interests of your organization in these highly influential Forums and Work Groups, join The Open Group today.

The Open Group ArchiMate® Model Exchange File Format (Phase 1) Snapshot Specification released for Comment

The Open Group has released a snapshot specification for Phase 1 of the ArchiMate Model Exchange File format - a standard file format for the exchange of ArchiMate models between different tools. The Snapshot is intended to make public the direction and thinking about the path The Open Group is taking. Feedback and guidance is requested. To provide feedback on this Snapshot, please send comments by email to ogspecs-snapshot-feedback-AT-opengroup.org no later than January 12, 2015.